Top three split by 0.008s on second morning of FIA F3’s Imola test

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi led a top three split by 0.008 seconds on the final morning of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Imola.

Having been last to lap at pace in the previous day’s sessions, AIX Racing’s Fernando Barrichello was first to lay down a laptime when the three-hour session began.

Almost half of the 30-car field was on track after five minutes, and Hitech GP’s Fionn McLaughlin set the first flying lap. He was swiftly beaten by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and AIX’s Yevan David, then Hitech’s Jin Nakamura broke into the 1m33s eight-and-a-half minutes in.

Trident’s Freddie Slater lowered the pace to 1m33.154s, which team-mate Matteo De Palo got within 0.084 seconds of after 11 minutes. AIX’s Brad Benavides then beat Slater by 0.03s, and lapped 0.102s shy of his benchmark day one laptime.

Slater responded with a faster lap, but was one of many to have improvements deleted due to track limits violations.

Benavides was beaten 18 minutes in by Rodin Motorsport’s Pedro Clerot, who set a 1m32.997s. Everyone had now been on track, and 22 drivers had set flying laps.

Campos Racing’s Theophile Nael was next to the top, bettering Clerot by 0.123s, shortly before Slater set a 1m32.688s to move back ahead.

After 25 minutes only Prema’s Louis Sharp was without a flying lap, and Slater had a 0.102s gap to MP’s Tuukka Taponen.

Red flags waved a few minutes later as McLaughlin and team-mate Michael Shin got beached in turn 13’s runoff, then after a restart the session stopped again as Nael crashed at turn four.

Drivers headed back out as hour two began, and Benavides lowered the pace to 1m32.247s. Nael sat fourth, ahead of team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu and improvers Colnaghi and Clerot. Sharp also finally lapped at pace.

Rodin’s Brando Badoer and Taponen got within 0.201s and 0.208s of Benavides, and a minute later Ugochukwu cut his gap to 0.145s.

After a non-improvement, Taponen went 0.001s faster than Ugochukwu next time by before joining most of the field in the pits. Prema’s James Wharton snuck into second as the track emptied, bettering Taponen by 0.01s.

Colnaghi went quickest 80 minutes in, setting a 1m31.824s that went unbeaten. Taponen got within 0.335s of him a minute later, and Alessandro Giusti slotted into fourth after lapping 0.565s off his team-mate’s benchmark.

Ugochukwu went third fastest, 0.406s behind Colnaghi, and Clerot demoted Giusti to sixth 87 minutes in. Benavides then came 0.008s shy of matching Colnaghi approaching the session’s halfway mark.

Trident’s Noah Stromted jumped from 20th to third a few minutes into the session’s second half with a 1m31.961s, and at the end of hour two Slater rose from 17th to fourth then got within 0.002s of Colnaghi in successive laps.

The track was quiet until the final half-hour. With six minutes remaining, Stromsted improved by 0.007s and Ugochuckwu set a 1m32.148s to take fifth from Taponen. Session-ending red flags waved with three minutes left as David crashed at turn six.

Morning session results